Libya tale unravels

Boston Herald editorial staffThursday, October 11, 2012

Two things are now clear: That the U.S. consulate in Benghazi — despite repeated warnings that it might become a target — was left tragically vulnerable; and the Obama administration’s insistence that the attack was the result of a spontaneous street protest was a complete fabrication.

Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, who headed a 16-member military team in Libya, told a congressional committee yesterday, “The security in Benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there.”

He told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that by last April only one U.S. diplomatic security agent was stationed at the consulate.

“The (regional security officer) struggled to obtain additional personnel there, but was never able to attain the numbers he felt comfortable with,” Wood said.

As a direct result of that failure Ambassador Chris Stevens, a State Department computer specialist and two former Navy SEALs lost their lives on Sept. 11 to what we now know — despite the earlier repeated denials by this administration — was a terrorist attack.

In advance of yesterday’s hearing two high ranking State Department officials continued to revise their own record — the five TV interviews of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice notwithstanding. Rice, who is part of the State Department team, let’s not forget, was trotted out to insist that the attack was a spontaneous reaction to that infamous YouTube video.

Evidence, including photographic evidence, of the attack by multiple groups of men with machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and mortars over an expanse of more than a mile now prove there was nothing spontaneous about it.

There is, however, a growing body of evidence that Stevens and those who died with him were sacrificed by the Obama administration which feared offending Libya’s new government.

Eric Nordstrom, ex-security officer for U.S. diplomats in Libya, told the committee as he had told his bosses in Washington repeatedly, “We could not rely on the Libyan government for security.”

Tragically he was right. No wonder the Obama administration didn’t want this story told.